Got Accepted (long post)

Brutus

New Member
well, i did it, i got a phone call this morning (dec 24th) from prescott congratulating me on acceptance into riddle. now what? should i be happy, excited or what? well to be perfectly honest, im neither.

i have been wanting to go to this university since 7th grade. to this day i still have that tattered 97 undergraduate catalog. all my relatives know what riddle is when they had not even heard about it. when someone asked me where i wanted to go, i replied ERAU before they even finished their question. i had not even a shadow of a doubt what i wanted to do with my life, i used to dream about this day of me getting the call and me jumping up and down. i used to imagine that i would call every person i know and not be able to stop talking about it till the summer. i used to think i would not be able to got to sleep for a week! u know what...after i got done talking to the admissions officer, i went back to sleep! i woke up 3 hours later went downstairs and told my parents i got in. man i tell u they about flipped! at first they were mad that i didnt come down and tell them Immediately but they got over it. after settling down i told them Kettering University (i'll go into depth later on) is where i want to go and surprisingly they understood.

a week before, my dad and i left to kettering university formerly known as GMI (general motors institute of technology) in flint, michigan. my family lives in ohio so the drive wasnt that tiresome. what attracted me to gmi was their co-op program and their reputation. its a top school because its geared towards employment after college. i believe they are the only univeristy being sponsored by over 700 major companies. u can talk about, general motors, rockwell, copeland, trw, bose, boeing, ups, microsoft, and the list goes on and on. its a two way street, these top companies pump in the money to receive the best co-op students to work for them, after they graduate they are immediately hired by their original co-op company. one thing about this university is that graduates have an edge over others because they have 4 years of experience to fall back on. during a year, u co-op for 3 months and go to class for 3 months and continue that cycle. so in the end u have hands on experience and have gone through the interview and hiring process by the time u graduate. plus this is a pretty difficult university to get into, with an acceptance rate at 66%.

other than trying to accomplish this 'dream' of becoming an airline pilot, my other focus is to get a sound foundation in engineering, with experience mind u, and then to pursue an MBA from an ivy league school. by doing this my future is looking towards the corporate world. its a perfect combination: BS in Electrical Enginneering and an MBA in marketing. another factoid is that if u look at all the Harvard graduates in the MBA program, its been stated that most transfering students into Harvard pursuing an MBA, are from Kettering. kettering is also one of the 17 members of the Association of Independent Technological Universities (AITU), the group consists of universities like MIT, Caltech, Carnegie Mellon, Rensselaer Polytechnic, and so on. anyway that gives u an idea of my choices.

so, i sit here and weigh in my options, i only applied for two univeristies and i got accepted into both. what do i want to do? if i go to riddle and go for the BSAS program what do i get out of it in the end? i get a degree thats worthless for anything other than becoming an airline pilot, and if i should choose that this field is not for me, then what? i wasted 4 years of my life and im back into square one. i have been told time after time, that this industry requires a lot of patience and hard work. my dad tells me everyday that the guys who fly the big ones, have passion for this industry and they really couldnt care less how much they are paid, because this is their dream and they love to do it. ive been told that if i have one ounce of doubt about pursuing this, then i should switch to something else. i have read a lot about this field and i know what it takes to make it there. i realize that the industry is down, and trying to jump in now would be foolish. this is an extremely risky business, but i realize that when all the smoke clears, u live a satisfying lifestyle. however, im not ready to starve after college to get there. i have passion but not as much passion as some of u guys have. i see more pros over at kettering after college than at riddle.

anyway to close this (hope i have not been too boring), i want to thank everybody who have replied to my posts regarding embry riddle because it has really helped me make an informed decision. i especially want to thank doug, for creating the best aviation website ever, and for his efforts to inform people about the aviation industry. as for me, well, im done with aviation. after this post im going to try to relax more and simply forget about all the thoughts of becoming an airline pilot. i realize its a great lifesyle and everything but i guess its only for a select group of people. i registered on Wed Dec 19 2001 thinking i'm going to be the next captain of Northwest Airlines (lol) but exactly one year later im thinking that 'next' captain for NWA is only a dreamer. thanks
 
Brutus,
It sounds like aviation is something you really would like to do, so don’t give up. Attending Kettering then obtaining a MBA sounds like a wise decision, but that doesn’t mean pursuing all of your ratings should be eliminated. If you do what you have mentioned, you would be in school for six years during which you could easily achieve all CFI ratings-aviation could be a hobby for you during school. If possible, you could be a part time instructor building hours on the side all the while working on your MBA. The point is, after six years with an end result of some great achievements aviation will more than likely have changed as well as your outlook on life. The aviation industry is all about timing. Those who have the hours required during a great hiring spree, like that prior to 911, will get the jobs they desire. The industry just doesn’t look too appealing at present time and is a big turn off for many, but don’t give up. If you are patient and are able to fly part time during school, you will be able to obtain your ratings and enjoy aviation at the same time. If you look at today while pursuing aviation for a career, it could be stressful and disheartening. On the other hand if it is only hobby, you will have a great time without the worries. Who knows, you could work for a corporate company with a small flight ops and be able to use your MBA and fly for the company at the same time. There are companies that have pilots who fly only 300 to 400 hour per year, and when they are not flying they have a desk job with the company. Remember, Schools like to see extra curricular activities from students on their application, not just good grades. If you had all your ratings and were able to put that on your app for Harvard, it certainly couldn’t hurt-it would be another gold star that you would receive from admissions. Riddle is not a true college life style experience. It doesn’t have the look, feel, size or appearance that most big name colleges have to offer. I know, I attended the Prescott campus for three years. I have all CFI ratings and looking for a job as a flight instructor. In the near future I will go after my MBA at a reputable school to further my education and make my self more marketable for the corporate world. I will be a professional pilot, I just don’t know for how long. As people get older, their outlook on life changes along with their desires and needs. Have fun and enjoy college. Hear is the site for facts, figures, and enrolement status of Riddle.

http://irweb.erau.edu
 
I hear you man. I've gone through the same questions you have. Don't goto ERAU for Aeronautical Science. I think its the stupid way to go the way the economy is. You can be an airline pilot no matter what your degree is in. ERAU does have a 95%(or around there) job placement right after college, Not to bad. Have you considered there Enginering degrees? I believe there top rated. Do what you want to do and also what you think will give you the best career.

You think your drive is bad, I live in New York. It will take me 2 and a half days to get to Prescott.

If your not sure, call up someone at ERAU and ask.

Good Luck
 
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You think your drive is bad, I live in New York. It will take me 2 and a half days to get to Prescott

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Are you actually going to drive to Prescott? That would be crazy!
 
Yup i'm going to drive. I love to drive and my dad is going with me for my first long haul drive. I can't go with out having a car, that would drive me nuts.
 
Oh yeah, take a car. You'll be 1000% happier in PRC with a car. Are you going for the spring semester or waiting for fall?
 
Im starting ERAU at the fall semester. I can't wait, I went to Arizona 2 years ago for 2 weeks and i loved it, Im so glad that its going to be my new home.
 
Arizona, in my opinion, is the best place to live in the country. I live in Scottsdale but I'm not an Arizona native. But spending 5 years in PRC gave me a big drive to move back.

California's too crowded, Florida is too old/redneck/muggy... Ahh, AZ!
 
This may sound like a straneg question, but is it true that there's a huge Scorpion porblem in AZ? I saw this program on it on the Discovery Channel, and it seemed like many people find them in there homes. If I ever saw one in my house, I would probably pack up and leave!
 
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I hear you man. I've gone through the same questions you have. Don't goto ERAU for Aeronautical Science. I think its the stupid way to go the way the economy is. You can be an airline pilot no matter what your degree is in.

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I’m curious, are you still going to Riddle after telling someone else not to? Not putting you down or anything like that, it just sounds funny-its like saying to someone, hey, don’t eat that it is the most disgusting thing, and then you eat it. Riddle does have some great teachers with the engineering program being the toughest. To fly and go to school at Riddle is very expensive, but yes the name does hold weight in the aviation industry.
 
The only scorpion I've seen (knock on wood) after living in AZ for a cumulative 8 years was in Fresno.
 
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I hear you man. I've gone through the same questions you have. Don't goto ERAU for Aeronautical Science. I think its the stupid way to go the way the economy is. You can be an airline pilot no matter what your degree is in.

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I’m curious, are you still going to Riddle after telling someone else not to? Not putting you down or anything like that, it just sounds funny-its like saying to someone, hey, don’t eat that it is the most disgusting thing, and then you eat it. Riddle does have some great teachers with the engineering program being the toughest. To fly and go to school at Riddle is very expensive, but yes the name does hold weight in the aviation industry.

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Yes I am still going to ERAU, but I'm going for the Aerospace Studies degree, not Aeronautical Science. I was saying that it is not a wise choice in my opinion to goto ERAU for Aeronautical Science
 
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